What happened to those fans several years later?: empowerment from Super Girls’ Voice for girls in China (2007–2015)

ABSTRACT

This longitudinal study explored the popularity and social significance of the 2005 season of the prominent Chinese television show Super Girls’ Voice (a talent show similar to Pop Idol in the UK) regarding gender issues. Based on three focus group studies of the show’s young female audience conducted in 2007, 2010, and 2015, we contend that tomboyish contestants, specifically Li Yuchun, were designated androgynous by most participants. Androgyny was largely perceived as a flexible gender identity that integrated the favorable appearance and personality traits of femininity and masculinity, a view that challenges normative femininity. Most participants also applied this meaning of the term to their own social lives, while some of the participants who were of school age in 2005 applied it to both their social lives and their construction of gender identity by copying the androgynous style. From a time-related perspective, however, we suggest that those participants who had copied the androgynous style were more willing to conform their appearance to the standards of normative femininity several years later, and renegotiated their gender identity in alignment with traditional patriarchal norms.

KEYWORDS:

• Empowerment
• female audience
• reality shows
• adolescence
• androgyny
• femininity

Notes

1. The second author translated the quotes. R denotes researcher. The participants are identified by a year (the year of the focus group in which they participated), a letter (which indicates the focus group to which they were assigned), and a single digit (which identifies the specific person in the group).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Science Doctoral Funds in Chongqing [grant number 2014BS126].

Notes on contributors

Li Cui

Li Cui is an associate professor at the School of Journalism and Communication, Southwest University, China. She received a PhD degree from City University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include gender studies, cultural studies, and health communication.

Xinzhi Zhang

Xinzhi Zhang is a Research Assistant Professor at the Department of Journalism at the School of Communication of Hong Kong Baptist University. He received a PhD from City University of Hong Kong. His research interests include political communication, new media and social change, media effects, and popular culture.